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JAPAN
Apr 8, 1999

Blind man sues Osaka over station safety

OSAKA -- A 25-year-old blind man filed a 48 million yen suit Thursday against the Osaka Municipal Government, charging he fell off a subway platform in 1995, was dragged by a train and seriously injured because the city, which operates the subway, did not take adequate safety measures for the visually...
JAPAN
Apr 8, 1999

Okinawa town ready to accept U.S. Navy site

Staff writer
JAPAN
Apr 8, 1999

Foley urges bilateral treaty for prisoner repatriation

U.S. Ambassador Thomas Foley made an official request Thursday to Justice Minister Takao Jinnouchi that work be done toward establishing a bilateral treaty to repatriate prisoners, ahead of a U.S.-Japan leaders' summit in May.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Apr 8, 1999

Soaking up the atmosphere enhances the sake experience

Sake pubs tend to have certain similarities of theme running through them. Whether it be a modern expression of these threaded themes or a more classical version, the look, feel and menu are often not all that different. While it all works for a reason, over the last few years there has been a trend...
JAPAN
Apr 8, 1999

FSA to declare Kokumin in capital deficit

The Financial Supervisory Agency next week will declare that Kokumin Bank, a second-tier regional bank, is in a capital deficit of 50 billion yen, raising the specter of yet another government takeover, sources at the state agency said Thursday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Apr 8, 1999

Sommeliers blowing smoke over corks

Years ago as a university student in Tokyo it was my good fortune to have a job with a famous design firm that had me in every week to critique their designs, write the English-language text for their creative work and occasionally translate and interpret for colleagues visiting from abroad.
COMMENTARY
Apr 8, 1999

Europe's new killing fields

LONDON -- A dark shadow lies over Europe this Eastertide. It is no wonder that as the churches and cathedrals fill for the greatest festival of the Christian calendar, people are turning increasingly to prayer to answer a problem that Europe's political leaders seem unable to resolve.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CROSSING CULTURES
Apr 8, 1999

But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

In my last column I wrote about change, and staying with that theme, I will here answer a question I am asked often:
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 8, 1999

An old street favorite makes good

Okonomiyaki: It's the ultimate street food, stomach-filling, easy to prepare and just as fast to consume. Born amid the rubble of postwar Osaka (according to one version of the legend) but rapidly embraced by the entire nation, no other style of Japanese cooking comes close in terms of being so cheap,...
COMMUNITY
Apr 8, 1999

If it could happen to Superman . . .

Founded in 1995, the Japan Spinal Cord Foundation (provisional, since members are still raising the money necessary to legalize the foundation) has just achieved a major breakthrough. For months, members had been trying to make contact with an established similar organization, the American Paralysis...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Apr 7, 1999

I am what I spam

Tom Clancy couldn't have weaved a better web of suspense and intrigue. It had everything: a villain working under a string of shadowy aliases; news hype mixed with general chaos; an FBI manhunt led by expert freelance bloodhounds
JAPAN
Apr 7, 1999

200 billion yen eyed to kick start baby boom

The Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and New Komeito agreed at a working-level meeting to provide up to 200 billion yen to local governments to help reverse Japan's declining birth rate, officials of the three parties said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 1999

Airlift Kosovo refugees to Japan?

Japan is considering taking in Kosovo refugees, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka indicated Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 1999

Japan's largest oil firm begins consolidation

Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corp., the nation's largest oil firm, announced Wednesday that it will close its crude-oil processing facilities in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, by the end of September to consolidate its refineries.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 1999

China considering maglev system

China is examining technology related to magnetically levitated trains for use in a proposed high-speed train system that would link Beijing with Shanghai, a Transport Ministry official said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 1999

Readers' aid delivered

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Tokyo on Tuesday received a 1.8 million yen contribution to help Kosovo refugees from The Japan Times Readers' Refugees Aid fund.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 1999

Go player slain in quarrel over strategy

A 54-year-old man was arrested for allegedly killing an acquaintance with a blow to the head while the two quarreled over a game of go, police said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 1999

Japan, U.S. plan projects for 'human security' in Asia

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Apr 7, 1999

Message in a bombing

When he launched the military action against Yugoslavia, U.S. President Bill Clinton said he was sending a message to Serb President Slobodan Milosevic. "If President Milosevic will not make peace, we will limit his ability to make war," Mr. Clinton declared. But in addition to their specific aims --...
JAPAN
Apr 7, 1999

Endometriosis tops list of women's ailments

Roughly 130,000 women nationwide are undergoing treatment at hospitals for endometriosis, a figure higher than that for other diseases such as cancer or diabetes, according to results of a survey released Wednesday by the Health and Welfare Ministry.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 1999

Osaka Koyo employees sue for damages, job security

OSAKA -- Nearly 100 employees of the Credit Union Osaka Koyo -- due to transfer its operations to Osaka Shomin Credit Union in August -- filed suit Wednesday seeking to secure employment after the transfer and 100,000 yen compensation payments for psychological pain.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Apr 7, 1999

Turnabout

Life is full of surprises. Did you know that anyone can open an English language school in Japan? While most are started by people with some experience in teaching, there are no such requirements. No one will come to inspect your school to see how and what you are teaching. This will be bad news for...
LIFE / Travel
Apr 7, 1999

Preserving a pocket of Fiji

LEVUKA, Fiji -- Thirteen-year-old Una Turaganicolo's strong, clear voice filled her family's timber-frame home, rising to the corrugated roof visible through the rafters. Her sister, Rose, hummed along as she battled with her math homework by the light of a flickering candle.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 7, 1999

An island wedding idyll

Two rather large Fijian tribesmen, wielding clubs once used in tribal wars to smash enemies' skulls, stand on either side of Yoichi Matsumoto and Kaori Tanaka (not their real names). The young Japanese couple look slightly terrified, but not because of the warriors' threatening pose: It's because they...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 1999

In the wake of the spy boats

Two North Korean spy boats disguised as trawlers recently intruded deep into Japanese territorial waters in the Sea of Japan. This was the second incident to have heightened tension between Tokyo and Pyongyang since last August, when a Taepodong ballistic missile test-fired by North Korea flew over northern...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 7, 1999

Fading hopes for faltering Japan

JAPAN TODAY, by Roger Buckley. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1999, (3rd edition), 233 pp. This is a succinct and reliable introductory survey of post-World War II Japanese history. This third edition is substantially rewritten and updated by the inclusion of recent material and analysis....
JAPAN
Apr 7, 1999

Experts air views on defense bills

Further military cooperation with the United States is vital to maintain a bilateral security alliance the nation cannot do without, former Ambassador Hirohisa Okazaki told a Diet committee Wednesday.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 7, 1999

Underwater neighborhoods

PHUKET, Thailand -- The coral-rich waters of the Andaman and Similan Seas off the coast of Phuket have become a mecca for scuba divers: Here awaits a treasure of diverse marine species, some of which can be found in few other places on earth.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Apr 7, 1999

The savage splendors of Singapore

SINGAPORE -- In 1907 a tiger was discovered hiding beneath the billiard table in the Long Bar of Raffles Hotel. Probably. Some have questioned the tiger's authenticity. Particularly if they have visited the Raffles Hotel's Long Bar. It is on the second and third floor. Not traditional tiger country....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 7, 1999

Romantics roam the garden

SHARAWADGI: The Romantic Return to Nature, by Ciaran Murray. Introductions by Seamus Deane and Mine Okachi. Bethesda: International Scholars Publications, 1998, 352 pp., unpriced. As Seamus Deane says in his introduction, Ciaran Murray here proposes "a new axis for the intellectual history of the 18th...

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